Need advice on organic autoflowers

Dapper_Dillinger · Jul 12, 2020

I am planning on starting my first grow in the next few weeks, I will be using a 2x3x5 tent with the Mars ts 600, and ac infinity inline with a terabloom 4x16 in carbon filter.I'm waiting on my white widow autoflower seeds from Pacific seed bank, i will be planting In 3 gal vivosun growbags my question is can anyone tell me the best dry amendments to add to my ffof soil, I was gonna go with ff big 3 nutes after the seedling stage but a thread made me re think my plans, I also need other advice on growing organic autoflowers in my stealth closet grow... I will be keeping a journal using these forums as much as possible. Thanks for taking time to read this and help me out.

Dontjudgeme · Jul 12, 2020

Dapper_Dillinger said:
I am planning on starting my first grow in the next few weeks, I will be using a 2x3x5 tent with the Mars ts 600, and ac infinity inline with a terabloom 4x16 in carbon filter.I'm waiting on my white widow autoflower seeds from Pacific seed bank, i will be planting In 3 gal vivosun growbags my question is can anyone tell me the best dry amendments to add to my ffof soil, I was gonna go with ff big 3 nutes after the seedling stage but a thread made me re think my plans, I also need other advice on growing organic autoflowers in my stealth closet grow... I will be keeping a journal using these forums as much as possible. Thanks for taking time to read this and help me out.

I only grow organically. I wouldn’t recommend using amendments with FFOF. Ocean forest is good all on its own. If you want to go the amendment route, promix or coco would be good choices. Coco requires watering more often than promix, if that isn’t an issue, I would go with coco. If you can get your hands on Gaia Green, it’s good stuff. If not, roots organic is a great substitution. FF trio isn’t bad at all, I’ve had great results with it. I’m just tired of bottle feeding and decided to go the amendment route.

Genki88 · Jul 12, 2020

your autoflower might even burn in FFOF

JoeBlow5823 · Jul 12, 2020

Genki88 said:
your autoflower might even burn in FFOF

It probably will burn in straight FFOF. I would cut it 50/50 with happy frog. And then give it some dry amendment early on in flower.

These were grown with a 50/50 hot cool dirt mix and just given the dry amendment at the start and middle of flower. I also used 5 gallon pots.... watering every 3-4 days is much better than every 2.

Dapper_Dillinger · Jul 13, 2020

Dontjudgeme said:
I only grow organically. I wouldn’t recommend using amendments with FFOF. Ocean forest is good all on its own. If you want to go the amendment route, promix or coco would be good choices. Coco requires watering more often than promix, if that isn’t an issue, I would go with coco. If you can get your hands on Gaia Green, it’s good stuff. If not, roots organic is a great substitution. FF trio isn’t bad at all, I’ve had great results with it. I’m just tired of bottle feeding and decided to go the amendment route.

I was planning on adding 25%perlite, I honestly went with the ffof because I read that you dont need to add anything until 3-4 weeks, I really wanted to keep it as simple as possible, I've already got my ffof and ff big bloom , do you think I would have a problem using 1/4 strength ff grow big and big bloom along with call mag after week 4? I really dont wanna switch to coco on my first run but I have been thinking about going that route in the future.

Dapper_Dillinger · Jul 13, 2020

Genki88 said:
your autoflower might even burn in FFOF

I was thinking about using 75%ffof 25% perlite, I've read that should be all you need for at least 3weeks

JoeBlow5823 · Jul 13, 2020

Dapper_Dillinger said:
I was thinking about using 75%ffof 25% perlite, I've read that should be all you need for at least 3weeks

That should be ok. Or mix FFOF 50/50 with roots organic - it has coco in it so it drains really good and is a lot cooler than FFOF. This mix worked really well for me. I just top dressed with this stuff at the start and middle of flower. Thats it.

Dapper_Dillinger · Jul 13, 2020

JoeBlow5823 said:
It probably will burn in straight FFOF. I would cut it 50/50 with happy frog. And then give it some dry amendment early on in flower.

View attachment 4622620

These were grown with a 50/50 hot cool dirt mix and just given the dry amendment at the start and middle of flower. I also used 5 gallon pots.... watering every 3-4 days is much better than every 2.

View attachment 4622622

Thanks for thanking the time to reply, I'm seriously considering grabbing a bag of Hf to mix with my of... I will also be using great white on my roots, can you tell me at what distance I would hang my 600w Mars hydro during the seedling stage so the dont stretch?

Dapper_Dillinger · Jul 13, 2020

JoeBlow5823 said:
That should be ok. Or mix FFOF 50/50 with roots organic - it has coco in it so it drains really good and is a lot cooler than FFOF. This mix worked really well for me. I just top dressed with this stuff at the start and middle of flower. Thats it.

View attachment 4622784

I'm looking into grabbing that happy frog right now, the dry amendments honestly seems like the simplest route, I was planning on using spring water from Kroger but I've been reading you can use tap if you let it sit out... what do you think about that?

JoeBlow5823 · Jul 13, 2020

Dapper_Dillinger said:
I'm looking into grabbing that happy frog right now, the dry amendments honestly seems like the simplest route, I was planning on using spring water from Kroger but I've been reading you can use tap if you let it sit out... what do you think about that?

I use tap no problems. Toss a fish tank bubbler in it (they are super cheap)

You know that mars hydro light is really weak right? Only good for flowering a 1.5'x1.5' area.
"HIGH EFFICIENCY ENERGY SAVING PLANT LIGHT, Consuming only 100 Watts true output with 225 PCS LEDs, more scientifically and energy-efficient! Perfect for 2' x 2' veg stage, 1.5' x 1.5' bloom stage "

Id probably start it ~18 inches from seedlings.

Dapper_Dillinger · Jul 13, 2020

I got that light for one plant in my 36inx 20in x63in tent, I might add a second if I grow 2 plants on the next run or upgrade to the 1000w

Gentlemencorpse · Jul 13, 2020

I plant into FFOF all the time ... its never burnt any of my plants. And you absolutely can ammend it if you wish. I make a super soil mix with my potting mix, worm castings, alfalfa meal, fishbone meal, coco, perlite and biochar. I fill 2/3 of the pot with that then the top with just potting soil. Its been working great so far.

That being said, super soil mixes aren't for the faint of heart and can be a challenge for new growers. You have no real way to adjust nutrient levels once you get rolling. I have one plant with clear N toxicity but there isn't much I can do other than ride it out.

Honestly the simplest route in soil is to grab a good potting soil (FFoF, Happy Frog, Roots Organic, Coast of Maine etc) and go water only for the first 3 to 6 weeks (depends on which soil you choose and the strain) then either top dress as @JoeBlow5823 suggests or grab a good dry fertilizer like Megacrop, Jack's or Veg + Bloom and feed every other watering.

Also autos are actually kind of tough to start with so I really don't suggest going super soil AND autos right out the door, thats leaving yourself with very little control over the situation

Dapper_Dillinger · Jul 13, 2020

Gentlemencorpse said:
I plant into FFOF all the time ... its never burnt any of my plants. And you absolutely can ammend it if you wish. I make a super soil mix with my potting mix, worm castings, alfalfa meal, fishbone meal, coco, perlite and biochar. I fill 2/3 of the pot with that then the top with just potting soil. Its been working great so far.

That being said, super soil mixes aren't for the faint of heart and can be a challenge for new growers. You have no real way to adjust nutrient levels once you get rolling. I have one plant with clear N toxicity but there isn't much I can do other than ride it out.

Honestly the simplest route in soil is to grab a good potting soil (FFoF, Happy Frog, Roots Organic, Coast of Maine etc) and go water only for the first 3 to 6 weeks (depends on which soil you choose and the strain) then either top dress as @JoeBlow5823 suggests or grab a good dry fertilizer like Megacrop, Jack's or Veg + Bloom and feed every other watering.

Also autos are actually kind of tough to start with so I really don't suggest going super soil AND autos right out the door, thats leaving yourself with very little control over the situation

Thanks for the info. The super soil actually appeals to me , but when I started deeper research, as you said it's not for the faint of heart, but I will be definitely mixing the ocean forest and the happy frog, and I'm still deciding what I'm going to feed with. I'm torn if I want to use the fox farm big bloom, grow big , with the tiger bloom, or if I should just top dress with dry amendments mentioned before...

Dapper_Dillinger · Jul 13, 2020

Gentlemencorpse said:
I plant into FFOF all the time ... its never burnt any of my plants. And you absolutely can ammend it if you wish. I make a super soil mix with my potting mix, worm castings, alfalfa meal, fishbone meal, coco, perlite and biochar. I fill 2/3 of the pot with that then the top with just potting soil. Its been working great so far.

That being said, super soil mixes aren't for the faint of heart and can be a challenge for new growers. You have no real way to adjust nutrient levels once you get rolling. I have one plant with clear N toxicity but there isn't much I can do other than ride it out.

Honestly the simplest route in soil is to grab a good potting soil (FFoF, Happy Frog, Roots Organic, Coast of Maine etc) and go water only for the first 3 to 6 weeks (depends on which soil you choose and the strain) then either top dress as @JoeBlow5823 suggests or grab a good dry fertilizer like Megacrop, Jack's or Veg + Bloom and feed every other watering.

Also autos are actually kind of tough to start with so I really don't suggest going super soil AND autos right out the door, thats leaving yourself with very little control over the situation

What do i use to adjust the ph in my tap water when I will be growing with the ffof and happy frog mix?

Gentlemencorpse · Jul 13, 2020

Dapper_Dillinger said:
What do i use to adjust the ph in my tap water when I will be growing with the ffof and happy frog mix?

Should be no need, soil self buffer pH ...

Dapper_Dillinger said:
Thanks for the info. The super soil actually appeals to me , but when I started deeper research, as you said it's not for the faint of heart, but I will be definitely mixing the ocean forest and the happy frog, and I'm still deciding what I'm going to feed with. I'm torn if I want to use the fox farm big bloom, grow big , with the tiger bloom, or if I should just top dress with dry amendments mentioned before...

Unless you use too much of this BS. I say skip the Fox Farms Trio tbh ... it acidifies your soil over time because of all the salt build up it leaves behind. Don't get me wrong, you can grow great weed with it ... but its overcomplicated, messy and expensive on top of the issue I already mentioned.

Your soil alone will feed the plants for at least 4 weeks so no need to get any other nutes right away ... and you can always top dress with more potting soil as needed ... just add a half inch of FFoF to the top of your pot.

For additional nutes I HIGHLY recommend one of the dry nutes i just mentioned ... ive use both MegaCrop and Veg + Bloom Dirty extensively now and they both work great as your only nute the whole way through or as a base to add other nutrients too as you get better at growing

Dapper_Dillinger · Jul 13, 2020

Gentlemencorpse said:
Should be no need, soil self buffer pH ...

Unless you use too much of this BS. I say skip the Fox Farms Trio tbh ... it acidifies your soil over time because of all the salt build up it leaves behind. Don't get me wrong, you can grow great weed with it ... but its overcomplicated, messy and expensive on top of the issue I already mentioned.

Your soil alone will feed the plants for at least 4 weeks so no need to get any other nutes right away ... and you can always top dress with more potting soil as needed ... just add a half inch of FFoF to the top of your pot.

For additional nutes I HIGHLY recommend one of the dry nutes i just mentioned ... ive use both MegaCrop and Veg + Bloom Dirty extensively now and they both work great as your only nute the whole way through or as a base to add other nutrients too as you get better at growing

Is this the mega crop you mentioned? Just reading some info from a quick Google search and that mega crop seems like the perfect option for me

Gentlemencorpse · Jul 13, 2020

Dapper_Dillinger said:
Is this the mega crop you mentioned? Just reading some info from a quick Google search and that mega crop seems like the perfect option for me

It is ... fantastic stuff

Dapper_Dillinger · Jul 13, 2020

Dapper_Dillinger said:
Is this the mega crop you mentioned? Just reading some info from a quick Google search and that mega crop seems like the perfect option for me

So would I use 1/4-1/2 strength of the recommended amount , and is there anything else that I would need to feed and water the plant like cal-mag?

Dapper_Dillinger · Jul 13, 2020

Gentlemencorpse said:
onestly the simplest route in soil is to grab a good potting soil (FFoF, Happy Frog, Roots Organic, Coast of Maine etc) and go water only for the first 3 to 6 weeks (depends on which soil you choose and the strain) then either top dress as @JoeBlow5823 suggests or grab a good dry fertilizer like Megacrop, Jack's or Veg + Bloom and feed every other watering.

do you have a schedule that you would recommend with the mega crop or do I just top dress with the mega crop some time around week 4?

Gentlemencorpse said:
Should be no need, soil self buffer pH ...

I was reading that alot of organic growers bother with ph, because the chemicals used to adjust up and down isnt good for the living soil. I do have a ph meter and I will be calibrating it tomorrow to see exactly what ph my tap water runs after being set out for 24 and 48 hours

Gentlemencorpse · Jul 13, 2020

Dapper_Dillinger said:
do you have a schedule that you would recommend with the mega crop or do I just top dress with the mega crop some time around week 4?

I was reading that alot of organic growers bother with ph, because the chemicals used to adjust up and down isnt good for the living soil. I do have a ph meter and I will be calibrating it tomorrow to see exactly what ph my tap water runs after being set out for 24 and 48 hours

I dissolved the Megacrop in water and didn't use it as a top dressing... though I believe it can be used that way ... I just ran their schedule at half strength to start and increased it as I went into flower ... decreased again as I got closer to harvest

Need advice on organic autoflowers

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